Major new technology and data infrastructure is intended to help researchers to study and mitigate economic and societal impacts as ‘climate change is sadly making extreme weather events more common’

A new publicly funded £40m network will combine the technology with a “huge” data bank to better predict where floods and droughts will strike.

The Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure – funded by the non-departmental government body, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) – is claimed to be the first UK-wide network to focus on understanding the impact of extreme weather conditions across the country.

Sensor and real-time computer monitoring alongside a “huge bank of data” on river profiles and near-live information on atmospherics, ground saturation, water movement, abstraction and storage, is expected to indicate where and when floods and droughts will hit. It is also hoped the initiative will bring budget savings as extreme weather costs the UK economy an estimate of £740m a year.

It is understood that the findings will then be shared with key bodies like the Environment Agency to support the UK’s response to extreme weather.

Researchers will be based at UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology’s offices throughout the UK, with further support from the British Geological Survey, University of Bristol and Imperial College London.

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Announcing the scheme, UK science, innovation and technology secretary Peter Kyle said there is “no time to waste” as climate change has made extreme weather more common in the UK.

Kyle said: “With climate change sadly making extreme weather events more common and adding an eye-watering cost to the economy, there is no time to waste in backing our researchers and innovators to ensure we are better prepared for floods and droughts striking. This project will help drive that progress, with dedicated teams using the most advanced tech to crunch data gathered from our rivers and paint a clear picture of its likely impact – using the power of science and tech to keep the public safe.”

The secretary of state also confirmed that the government will soon launch a new Flood Resilience Taskforce to “turbocharge” the delivery of new flood defences, drainage systems and natural flood management schemes.

Floods minister Emma Hardy added: “In the case of extreme flooding and drought, preparation and prediction are everything. Our new institute will bring together a team of world-leading researchers and the latest technology to ensure our communities, businesses and farms are protected from these devastating events.”

A version of this story originally appeared on PublicTechnology sister publication Holyrood